Closing the Gap between Perception, Reality of Drug Abuse

The danger of drug abuse and how it destroys lives of young people was the thrust of this year’s edition of the Drug Abuse Awareness Advocacy programme of the Lions Clubs International District 404B2, Nigeria held in conjunction with Silence Initiatives, writes Mary Nnah

Surface it to say that drug abuse has been a major problem in Nigeria with the resultant impacts on every facet of the nation’s economy.

No wonder stakeholders at this year’s edition of the Drug Abuse Awareness Advocacy programme of the Lions Clubs International District 404B2, Nigeria held in conjunction with Silence Initiatives, a non-governmental organisation whose target is to curb the misuse of drugs among youths in Nigeria, Africa and the world, reached a consensus that drug abuse, especially by young people, is a pandemic.

Tagged, “War against Drug Abuse”, speakers at the event held on January 26, 2022 at the Lagos State Government Technical College, Ikeja, Lagos, spoke on the general theme, “Share Factors on Drug Abuse: Save Lives”, a topic that was basically aimed at raising public awareness on dangers of drug abuse against the general perception by young people.

This is so that the youths, families and the society at large can make informed decisions, better target efforts to prevent and treat drug abuse and as such tackle the nation’s drug challenges.

Opining that drug abuse should at this stage be regarded as a pandemic in Nigeria, a Clinical Psychologist, Pillot Gbolahan, said, “Working as a professional and seeing the turnout in terms of the number of clients on a daily basis, is one of the reasons I will regard drug abuse as a pandemic.

” Even though we do not have a number of statistics to show that fact, there is information around that every day we have people who use overdose on drugs. So, in terms of the use itself, we can say is a pandemic because we have people as young as 9, 10, 15, and 17 years old who are currently using drugs.

“If you look at the long-term effects on the human body, and on the society at large, then we can actually call it a pandemic.”

Dwelling on the major reasons young people go into drug and substance abuse, Gbolahan, while speaking at the event which was targeted at students of the Lagos State Government Technical College, Ikeja, said, “The honest truth that the reasons for going into drugs for each individual is very different but we can talk about them in consensus things like peer pressure, wanting to feel among; you can also put part of the blame on the media, that is the way the media portray some of these things also play a major part.”

He said however that one of the first and major thing that needs to be done to curb the rising incidences of drug abuse is advocacy, letting the youth know that the use of these substances are harmful to their health and more importantly, have a big impact on the society.

He added that, “If we say that the future leaders are those that are coming behind and we have a future where we have the majority of the youth using drugs that means that our future is not secured.”

Gbolahan, who noted that the entertainment industry has had a whole lot of negative impact on the youths, especially musically; felt that entertainers also need to help in that area of advocacy.

“There is a huge relationship between visual and auditory when you talk about learning because what you see and hear, has a way of staying with you for a longer time”, he added.

Therefore, to rescue the next generation from drug addiction, “we need a lot of help from the entertainment industry, so that rather than for them to be perpetuating malicious acts thereby influencing the youths negatively, they would through their movies and music educate the youths that they can actually be the best version of themselves in terms of talents without doing drugs. That, will go a long way for the next generation”.

Speaking on the theme, “Share Factors on Drug Abuse: Save Lives”, the clinical psychologist said, “We are sharing facts on drug abuse in a bit to save lives.

“The aim of the presentation is just to give them information and to let them know the consequences of continuous use of a substance or trying to go into substance abuse – it detrimental to the health, it also has some physiological as well as some biological effects on human body.”

He said further that the effects of substance abuse are endless. “It can affect the person physically, that is the physical makeup of the person – there is deterioration; it can affect the psychological function of the person, that is in terms of the emotion and how the person is able to function.

“It can also have some biological effects, that is, it can create long term effects on the vital organs of the body and more importantly, affect the mental health of the individual.”

District Governor, Lions Clubs International, District 404B2 Nigeria, Lion Kayode Oshinuga said the drug abuse issue has been one of the Lions Club’s programme for a long time.

He revealed further that studies recently have related the increase in crime rate to the increase in drug and substance abuse by the youths.

“We felt that if we continue just to tackle the crime, we are only killing the symptom, so we decided to tackle it from the roots”, he said, noting that this particular programme was the first in the series of many more initiatives to come in this regards.

“The first thing is to identify them and if we are able to identify them, then we would be able to address it – if we are able to identify them and put them in Rehabs, we would then be able to forward them to the government to do its part”, the DG said.

District Committee Chairperson on Drug Abuse Awareness & Advocacy Campaign, Lion Folashade Ashafa in her welcome address expressed joy at the enthusiasm shown by the students over the programme and for the fact that they were being imparted with such knowledge.

She acknowledged that the drug abuse menace was becoming an epidemic in our society, adding that with such initiative by the Lions Clubs.

“You will quite agree with me that we are in serious times with the present menace of drug abuse and its resultant effects on us. Even if we don’t want to agree, the actions and reactions of our present-day teenagers is a reality that has come to stay and unless we face it head-on; we may be heading for an unpleasant future for our immediate family, our environment, and the society at large”, she noted.

She said Lions Clubs as an organisation is poised to sensitise teenagers on the dangers of abusing drugs and indulging in activities that would jeopardise the future of us all.

Adding that organisation is committed to making society safe for all and ensuring that the future is secured, she presumed the students have been well informed on the dangers inherent in drug and substance abuse.

Ashafa opined that she was almost sure students would not go out there and be associated with anything that will in the long run affect them negatively.

Youth and Anti-drug abuse advocate, Ambassador Sunny Irakpo, said, “We believe that the young people are the future of this country and if we must go by that assertion, there is a need for us to begin to plant the information that will enable them to succeed and that is why we are here.”

Articulating the facts about drug abuse and the effects on young people especially, and how it could be curbed, Irakpo said, “Information is powerful. One of the factors responsible for drug abuse is ignorance. People abuse drugs because they see that their friends are doing it and they just go into it without getting the facts about whatever they are taking.

“So, our responsibility is to bring this information to people, particularly the youths, who are vulnerable. What do you know about drug abuse? What do you know about marijuana, codeine, Colorado, and other drugs that you are taking, which are killing many of our youths today?

“So my responsibility is to ensure that I bring this information to them. And according to statistics, for every one dollar, you spend on sensitisation, you are saving individuals about 90 per cent of that same money for what they would use in treating themselves, including the governments.

“In other words, if the governments spend $1for sensitisation, they are saving themselves about $10 for treatment of drug abuse. So, we believe that information is power and the only way that can lead to transformation. And how do we ensure that the information is passed across? It is by collaborating with like-minded organisations to ensure these young people get the message deeply and then we run with it.”

Irakpo reiterated that there were multifactorial factors people were abusing drugs. He explained that while some go into it due to peer pressure, others go into it because of poor parentage while yet, others go into it due to environmental factors.

“In the environment they stay, they see people smoking and drinking and they feel it’s normal and yet most of them do not know that it is very consequential”, he noted.

Irakpo who is the Founder/President of Silec Initiatives, however, stressed that getting into drugs is easy and cheap, adding however that continuing in the habit was very expensive and deadly.

He noted further that from his experience so far, drug abuse happens majorly as a result of peer pressure.

“This is so because the barrier to entry is low. You don’t even need money before you can start abuse. Somebody can just pick interest in you and begin to give you those substances without collecting money from you. That is what peer pressure can do.

“So from the number of years that I have been in the field, I noticed that peer pressure is something that is really dealing hard on our youths.”

He also identified poor parenting as another major cause of drugs abuse, noting, “a lot of parents are no longer there for their children and they don’t give valuable time to their children and this is affecting the family cycle and also the society at large,”.

He said further that some resort to drug abuse due to family disintegration, and because of that there is a vacuum. While some abuse drugs for the sake of sexual performances and what they do is soak themselves in any form of substance within their reach before they approach a lady.

He said these drug addicts are oblivious that when they start that particular journey, for them to come out of it will usually be difficult.

“So when you look at it holistically, there are different reasons people go into drug abuse and we can help them in different ways to come out of it, which is why we are here today, for them to get all the needed help that the need and we are available for counseling.”

In furtherance to curtail drug abuse among youth, Irakpo insisted that there was a need for government to create a reward system for the youths.

“A lot of these youths are out of school but there are no jobs and they are thinking to go into drugs and other vices but if they are engaged properly in skills acquisition, for example,, a lot of them will not have the time to go into this”, he added.

Director of Education (Vice Principal Administration), Lagos State Technical College, Mrs. Betiku Esther, who expressed gratitude to the organisations for bringing such initiative to the school, noted that “actually, we have quite a lot of challenges that we are fighting to correct with our student, drug abuse is one of them. So I want to thank you very much for the drug abuse lecture and I am sure that it has been impactful on them from the questions they asked”.

She also seized the opportunity to admonish her students: “You can see that the generations before you care about you and that is why they are trying to guide you to the right path and that is exactly what this club is doing, passing what is right to your generation.”

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“In other words, if the governments spend $1for sensitisation, they are saving themselves about $10 for treatment of drug abuse. So, we believe that information is power and the only way that can lead to transformation”

Photo Caption:

L-R: Anti-drug abuse advocate, Mr. Sunny Irakpo; District Committee Chairperson on Drug Abuse Awareness & Advocacy Campaign, Lion Folashade Ashafa; District Governor, Lions Clubs International, District 404B2 Nigeria, Lion Kayode Oshinuga; Director of Education Vice Principal Administration, Lagos State Technical College, Mrs. Betiku Esther; Director, Co-Curricular and Gender Unit LASTVEB, Mrs. Osah Gladys and Clinical Psychologist at the Yaba Psychiatry Hospital, Lagos State, Pillot Gbolahan at the event